It's That Time Again!

You know what I'm talking about.

The time when you start to hear the sound of mowers and blowers and ..... can't think of another yard work rhyme.

The time of year for some spring cleaning.

Now, some people take this idea a little too seriously for my taste.

Check out this Spring Cleaning Checklist I found at Martha Stewart's website.

Seriously?  I agree that it's a great idea, but that list is not going to get done around my house.

In my book, Martha is the Queen of Overkill.  I mean, the woman never opens a canned food item if it's something she herself can plant, grow, harvest, and cook.  I believe Martha's motto must be, "Why take the easy way?  I'd rather take a simple task and make it one thousand times more complicated than it really needs to be."

I don't live in Martha's world.

If I'm resealing grout and washing window screens, it's only because we're getting ready to sell the house.

I like to take my cleaning tips from someone a little more practical.

Someone like Erma Bombeck.  Here are a few of her thoughts on cleaning house:

"Housework.  If you do it right, it will kill you."

"No one ever died from sleeping in an unmade bed.  I know some mothers who remake the bed after their children do it because there is a wrinkle in the spread or the blanket is on crooked.  This is sick."

"There's something wrong with a mother who washes out a measuring cup with soap and water after she's only measured water in it."

That Erma is my kind of woman.

Sometimes the bed's just not going to get made.

And while I like a clean house, I'm not going to kill myself and make everyone else miserable in the process just to have a spotless home.  If things are put away and you can walk barefoot in the kitchen without crushing things under your feet, it's all good.

I much prefer this Spring Cleaning checklist:  31 Days to a Less Messy Nest.

Actually, it's not really a Spring Cleaning checklist.

It's just 31 ideas for sprucing up your home and making your life a little more organized and therefore simpler.

And let's just make a pact right now, ok?

We're not going to get all stressed out about having to do this list in 31 days simply because the title is called 31 Days.

The title is not the boss of us.

You might choose to do one thing a week.  You might choose to only do a couple of things from the list.  Some of you might choose to do Martha Stewart's list to which I say, more power to you!  Or you might even choose to not do anything on any list at all.

That is 100% A-OK.

My idea of spring cleaning is just doing a few extra things around the house that make life a little bit easier for all of us who live here.

For example, I love the Lunch Basket idea (Day 5) on the 31 Days list and I'll be incorporating that this weekend.

And the Messy Organization idea (Day 17) is very reassuring to me.  I'm never going to take the time to neatly wrap each and every extension cord, power strip, and various charger cords after I use them.  But I can put them all in one drawer or container so that at least I can find one when I need it.  It may not look that great but it works and that's the point.

Here's a nice thought to keep in mind as you go about doing any spring cleaning:

"We labor to make a house a home, then every time we're expecting visitors, we rush to turn it back into a house."    Robert Brault

I like that.